Defense attacks witness' credibility at public corruption trial

December 21, 2012

RICK NEASE/Detroit Free Press

Detroit Free Press Staff Writers

'Kilpatrick Enterprise' trial coverage

Former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, his father, Bernard Kilpatrick, and his longtime contractor friend Bobby Ferguson were convicted in U.S. District Court in Detroit. They were accused in a conspiracy to enrich themselves by rigging City of Detroit contracts through the mayor's office. Kwame Kilpatrick was convicted on 24 of 30 counts, Ferguson was found guilty on nine of 11 counts and Bernard Kilpatrick was convicted on one of four counts. A fourth defendant, former water department director Victor Mercado, pleaded guilty to conspiracy during the trial and awaits sentencing.

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The defense in Detroit's public corruption trial lambasted a government witness Thursday, portraying him as a lying, "bull (expletive) artist" who is bending over backward to help the prosecution.

"When it suits your purposes, you will lie," Gerald Evelyn, who is representing ex-Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick's friend Bobby Ferguson, said during cross-examination.

The witness is Bernard Parker III, a well-connected business consultant and former employee of Ferguson, who testified that Ferguson had inside help from the Kilpatrick administration in winning contracts and threw his weight around the contracting community.

Parker also testified that Kilpatrick held up deals until Ferguson got what he wanted, and that Ferguson could be threatening if he didn't get his way.

Evelyn didn't buy it and asked Parker to explain why, if Ferguson was as bad as he claimed, he worked for Ferguson for two years.

"It was bad judgment," responded Parker, 43.

Parker's testimony, which has been laced with F-bombs and other cuss words, got Evelyn fired up at times, especially when Parker offered information that wasn't asked of him, such as telling jurors that a particular contractor was "scared to work with Bobby."

"I never asked you that. ... Are you working that hard to help the government out? " a visibly irritated Evelyn said, drawing an immediate objection from the prosecution.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark Chutkow asked Parker to explain why he was in court.

"Do you want to be here?" Chutkow asked.

"No," Parker answered, noting he had been subpoenaed.

"Has there ever been any threat of prosecution against you?" Chutkow asked.

"No," Parker answered.

"Is there any upside to you being here?" Chutkow continued.

"No," Parker responded.

Evelyn and Kilpatrick's lawyer, James Thomas, weren't convinced and tried to paint Parker as an ambitious pleaser who used connections to get ahead. Thomas said one of Parker's bosses had called him a "bull (expletive) artist."

Evelyn grilled Parker about much of his testimony, especially a 2005 e-mail he sent to his bosses in which he took credit for helping his firm "dramatically" increase its workload on a city project. The firm was sewer lining specialist Insituform.

Evelyn, though, caught Parker in a lie.

Parker wrote in the e-mail that it was a "high-ranking city appointee in the Kilpatrick administration" who pointed out to him how well his company was doing. He also wrote that the appointee wanted Insituform to increase its support of the administration, or, as he put it, "to reassess our corporate citizenship."

But on cross-examination, Parker admitted that he lied to his bosses in the e-mail and that it was Ferguson -- not a Kilpatrick appointee -- who was behind the information.

Parker, though, told jurors he came up with the e-mail's wording. It was a cleaner version, he said, of what Ferguson told him.